Wish you Well
by GatewaysDiary
Summary: We were once invincible, untouchable, inseparable. The three of us living above the world, without listening to a word they said. Then that one word brought our whole world crashing down on us, goodbye. No matter what though, I wish you well, my friend.
1. Life like Rain

**Summery: **We were once invincible, untouchable, inseparable. The three of us living above the world, without listening to a word they said. Then that one word brought our whole world crashing down on us, goodbye. No matter what though, I wish you well, my friend.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own beyblade nor do I own 'Wish you well' by thousand foot Krutch

**~Life like Rain~**

Kai stared at the ceiling throwing a ball up and catching it without looking. He heard the door open but didn't bother to look at who had came in."Hey Kai, we're going to get something to eat. Want to come?" The voice was quiet, one would have thought the speaker was afraid of Kai if they hadn't known them. Kai knew him though, soft spoken and polite but at the same time strong and protective.

"You both going?" Kai asked still not looking at the speaker. "Yeah, no one feels like cooking and I'm sick of pizza and Chinese food." Kai raised an eyebrow. "Ironic?" The speaker chuckled slightly at Kai's inquire. "Yeah, a little bit. So you coming or should we pick you up something?" Kai caught the ball again and sat up, facing the speaker for the first time. "Yeah, let me get ready and I'll be down." The speaker nodded before turning around to leave Kai to change.

Kai stood working out his sore muscles. He looked to the mirror, the dark circles that had pledge him for years had finally disappeared into nothing but a memory. No more nightmares, no more fear, it had been like a dream and it was a dream Kai never wanted to wake up from. He had forgotten the past, he was untouchable, no that wasn't true. _They _were untouchable; Kai knew he would have never survived without his friends.

They had been there as Kai had stood before the judge and testified against his Grandfather, finally sending the psychopath to prison for the rest of his life. Still even looking into the mirror made the pain come back. Kai still wasn't sure who he was, wasn't sure what he was going to do. All he knew for a fact was that, as long as his friends stood by him, he was safe.

Kai changed. Sliding on a dark red tank top, and a black jean jacket over it to match his jeans. After checking his hair in the mirror he ran down the stairs, jumping over the banister before he reached the bottom. He saw the redhead first. Black turtle neck and dark blues jeans contrasted the bright red hair. "Tala," Kai said getting the redheads attention.

"There you are, was starting to wonder about you." Kai smirked at his friend. "Didn't know I was being timed." Tala just shrugged. "Just don't want to be late." Kai looked closer at his friend, he saw the devilish smirk that covered Tala's face. "We aren't _just _going to eat are we?" Tala's smirk grew. "Don't worry Kai, it's got nothing to do with you. I just think our neko friend needs a little push right now." Kai knew what Tala was referring to, after the incident things had changed.

"You guys ready?" Kai looked towards the new voice. Long raven hair that was pulled back in a low pony tail, a dark gold shirt with red flames swirling around the side and light blue jeans. Kai smiled as the youngest in their trio emerged. "Waiting on you." Tala replied, the same smirk plastered on his face. "So where are we going?" We began heading for the door, before the question was answered. "Second Fret." Ray stopped, looking suddenly nervous. "Tal, can we please go somewhere else. I don't think I am ready to face _them _again."

Kai felt a pang of sorrow, as his friend remembered the past. They all had things they wanted to forget, things they rather not relive. Ray was the only one though that had his past stuck with him. Every time he tried to move on, something came and dragged him back down. Kai put an arm around Ray's shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "It won't be the same way this time, promise." Ray looked over at Kai, his eyes trusting. They had to trust each other, or else none of them would be sane."You won't be alone this time. Me and Kai will be right there with you." Ray took a deep breath, trying to convince himself to go through the door. "Alright, let's go."

They each had a past and they each had lost things due to that past. Kai had his Grandfather and the nightmares he still relived from him. Tala had been left one too many times and so had forgotten how to trust. Ray had lost everything, including himself. They were all fighting to get back to where they needed to be. When they were together though, they weren't afraid, the nightmares didn't come and the monsters vanished.

They all knew the truth though, everything they did was all leading up to one thing . . . goodbye. That was what was hard. Every time they took a step forward, it made Kai want to take another step back. Because every step forward brought them one step closer to that dreaded word. They walked up the road, without a word. It was to hard to talk about what might happen when they got there.

"Guys, no matter what. I can always come back, right?" Ray asked looking at the two older teens. Both of them smiled something that neither did often. "Anytime." They said at the same time. Ray smiled trying to grasp what just might happen once they were there. Everything had happened to fast in Ray's life. He had lost his mom to fast, he had grown up to fast, he had been hurt to fast, he had cried himself out too fast, everything was always just to fast. Ray had wanted the world to stop, he wanted a chance to get back what he had never gotten the chance to have.

He had lost himself somewhere in the shuffle, and without Tala and Kai, he would have been lost for good. They had pulled him out, slowed life down, given his a chance to breath, but now life was moving forward again, and what waited at the end of his path was something he didn't want. It was a farewell. It was moving forwards and leaving the past behind him; even if he wanted the past to move with him.

"Things are going to get better, you'll see." Ray looked over into the crimson eyes of his friend. For three years they had protected each other, for three years they had been unstoppable, for three years they didn't fear what was next. For three years they had simply lived. Tala watched the exchange between the two, he hated this more then the other two realized.

He was always the one pushing things forward, making sure not to move so fast that he lost the others. The truth was though that 'goodbye' was a word that Tala feared. He looked at the two he had trusted more than anyone else and all of a sudden reality caught up with him. If this meeting he had set up worked, goodbye was the only way it could end. He felt tears pricking at his eyes, he didn't want to cry. He wanted to be happy for the younger teen, but he didn't want to say goodbye.

It was to final, to unforgiving of a word to even place it with his friend. He felt a hand on his shoulder and found himself face to face with bright amber eyes, tears filling them as well as he pulled the redhead into a hug. "It's alright Tal, I'm not planning on disappearing forever." Tala nodded, but he knew the truth. It was just too much to think of though. "No, you need to let go. Move on. Me and Kai will stick around, keep each other sane. You need to live though; you've been drowning for too long."

They were all silent as the building came into view. They all knew what was waiting inside that building. "Guys, I can't do it." Ray whispered as they approached the building. "Yes, you can." Tala said, crossing his arms. They all knew that the kid had what it was going to take, everyone but Ray. "No I can't. They made it clear last time that they didn't want me here. I can't take that again, not yet at least. Tal, I'm really sorry." Ray said looking over at Tala. Tala sighed, inwardly thanking every god he could think of. "Alright, I'll go and tell them you aren't ready."

Kai pulled Ray back a step as Tala went inside. "Ray, are you really not ready, or is Tala?" Kai said, noting Ray's change in attitude when Tala had realized that this could be it. "I don't want to leave yet Kai. I know what's waiting for me there and it scares the heck out of me. You and Tala, without you two, I would have drowned in this world. Without you two, I wouldn't have made it." Kai sighed putting his hands on Ray's shoulders.

"We protected each other, all of us. You helped me and Tala as much as we helped you. The only difference is you can't keep on moving by staying with us, we can." Ray took another shaky breath. "I know, I just . . . don't want to let go yet." Kai nodded, he didn't want to let go either, but he would never tell the younger teen. If he did Ray would never move forward with his life. "You never have to let go." Kai whispered, with the slightest hint of a smile.

Tala came back out, trying hard not to smile. "Foods at home, I say we just head back." Both of the other teens nodded. Once they were back inside. Ray sat down on the couch, pulling his legs up to his chest and burying his head into his knees. Tala sat down beside him and rubbed small circles on his back. Kai went to his room, coming back down with his guitar and doing the one thing he could do that no one else ever could for the younger teen.

Tala saw Kai get his guitar and smiled. Both knew Kai's singing was the one thing that took away the pain, the one thing that made Ray smile the way he did when everything was alright. Kai took a deep breath and started playing the first few cords. It was the song that Kai had written after the world had crashed in on them. The song he had written right after they had found Ray.

It was a slow song with a sad tone, but a clear message. Ray looked up, his face tear streaked, but a smile already showing on his face as Kai started to sing.

"_Sometimes love, feels like pain, and sometimes I wonder if it's all the same,_

_sometimes life, feels just like rain, cause you never know, when it's gonna fall down on you_

_I wish you well, I wish you well, on this trip to find yourself,_

_I wish you well, wish I could help, but I can't help you find yourself"_

Ray leaned into Tala as Kai continued to sing. Kai's eyes drifted closed as he became engulfed by the melody. The song meant more to Ray then even his two friends realized.

"_Sometimes faith, feels like doubt, and sometimes I wonder if we'll even get out, _

_sometimes life hurts just like now, but ya gotta know, it's all gonna come back around._

_I wish you well, I wish you well, on this trip to find yourself,_

_I wish you well, wish I could help, but I can't help you find yourself"_

It was a promise, a promise that no matter what happened, no matter where he went, no matter what life threw at him. Those two would always be there for him to fall back on. 

"_find yourself,  
I can't help you find yourself,  
find yourself . . ._"

Ray felt his eyes growing heavy as the tempo of the song picked up and Kai sang _his_ verse. The verse that Kai had wrote just for him. It was also the farewell that they all dreaded, and the promise of always being there. The verse that told their life.

"a_nd we were sixteen at the time, nothing could ever change our minds, _

_we were one step below invincible, and we always fought it,_

_you've never been the same, _

_you were so scared to make a name,_

_then you threw it all away, _

_and i wish you'd come back now."_

Ray's eyes drifted shut as he leaned against the redhead and he heard the slate haired teen's voice. He was safe as long as he was with them. They saved him when no one else would. When no one else would even try.

"_I wish you well, I wish you well, on this trip to find yourself, _

_I wish you well, wish I could help, but I can't help you find yourself,_

_I wish you well, I wish you well, on this trip to find yourself, _

_I wish you well, wish I could help, but I can't help you find you"  
_

"Thanks," Ray muttered as the song began to draw to a close, the tear tracks on his face forgotten as he brushed his face into Tala. Kai's eyes opened upon hearing his friend's voice. The song had slowed it's tempo again, and so he strummed the last cords.

_"I wish you well, I wish you well, on this trip to find yourself,_

_I wish you well, wish I could help, but I can't help you find yourself"  
_

Tala put an arm around the younger teen, laying his head on top of the others. Kai's voice carrying out the last echoes of the song, his heart contracting as he thought on the last words he sang._  
_

"_find yourself,  
I can't help you find yourself,  
find yourself,  
I can't help you find yourself. . . "  
_

Kai put his guitar aside and smiled at the sight before him. Tala had drifted off to sleep as well during the last few cords. Kai's gaze then locked on the raven haired teen and his smile wavered. "Ray, I wish you would come back to us."

0-0-0-0-0-0

A/N

Hey everyone, alright I know I shouldn't be doing this, but this fic got stuck in my head. I mean this isn't even one of the ones on my page!

But hey good news, this is a short one. (Not a oneshot unless you all think I should end it here, in which case I will) but only like three or four chapters. Send me a review with what you all thought!

Anyways, before anyone asks, No, this is not yaoi. It is a friendship fic about how much we depend on our friends to help us when we feel like we are drowning.

Also the song that Kai sang is 'Wish you well' by thousand foot krutch.

Thanks for reading


	2. Love Like Pain

**Summery: **We were once invincible, untouchable, inseparable. The three of us living above the world, without listening to a word they said. Then that one word brought our whole world crashing down on us, goodbye. No matter what though, I wish you well, my friend.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own beyblade nor do I own 'Wish you well' by thousand foot Krutch

**Notes: **Names in italic are talking about people that are not present in the room.  
_Italic sentences are someone's thought other then the POV's focus._

**~Love like Pain~**

I moved around the kitchen, preparing two plates. I placed one on the table and sat opposing it with my own. We didn't exchange words, we never did anymore. I suppose I am as much to blame for this as him. When it had first began I had tried to talk to him, talking about anything I thought he would like. It never worked though, in time I gave up. Residing to just sit in silence and watch him waste away to nothing.

We both were, slowly, but we were. Slowly we were both dieing out and neither of us had what it took to take the first step forward again.. I missed him to be honest. He use to always be there for me. I missed his company, I missed his support, I missed his being there for me, but most of all . . . I missed his voice.

He had once had upon a time had the best voice in the world. A voice that had made our troubles go away. We were hiding from a world that didn't want us. They had found us and I had lost him. The worst part was, I don't think I'll ever get him back now. There are days that he just stays in his room without moving. He just stares out the window, lost in his own thoughts about the past. Those are the good days though, on the bad ones he just looks at me. He doesn't even know who I am. I know some of the things he thinks about and it scares me, he use to be so strong. I don't know how much longer I can take him being like this.

I don't blame him though. He had held it together far longer then anyone his age ever could, or ever should. I opened my mouth to speak, but the words died in my mouth. How could you talk to someone that no longer existed? His eyes were dull, he wasn't with me anymore. Everyday I saw him though, part of me died. If something didn't change soon then both of us would die, without ever really dieing.

It would be like _her_ all over again. The same pain, all over again. I had finished eating awhile back and he hadn't even touched his plate. I just watched him as he sank farther away from me. Images of _her_ flashed into my mind. Her smile after _he_ had left, the same blank look she had given us, the same distant look that told us she was gone.

He had been the one to hold it together then. He had taken care of her, like I now did him, but he had done a far better job. He had taken care of her and myself. He had watched over us, he shouldn't of had to, but he did. Then that one gunshot took it all away. I wonder if things would have been different if I had found her and not him.

He had spent so long keeping her from that, maybe it was finding her that had sent him over the edge. I'll never know though, I still believe it was them taking away everything we had left. In one day everything we had ever known had been ripped away from us. They had shoved him into a psychiatrist's office, but that had only made the problem worse. He wouldn't ever trust someone else, he barely trusted me, why should he trust anyone else?

They said that he was some where between Major and Chronic depression. They weren't sure which yet, since he showed signs of both. They also hadn't had enough time yet to determine if it was chronic. I tried not to think about that. To think about him being like this all the time for a long time. They had given him some pills, but getting him to take them was impossible. No one cared enough to help us, and I knew it was wrong, but I was starting to not want to help him either.

All it ever was, was a headache. He wouldn't take the pills, he wouldn't eat, he was already dead to the world. Why should I ruin my life to take care of someone who obviously didn't want it. "I can't do this anymore." I knew my voice was quiet, but in the oppressing silence that had filled the house since she died, it sounded as if I was shouting.

I waited, hoping beyond all hope that he would answer me. When he just took a bit of his food, I caved into my desire. "I can't take care of someone who doesn't want to be taken care of." He looked up at me, his eyes blank. '_Even though I took care of you?'_ Confidence once again flooded through me. "I don't want to kill myself for you, if all your ever going to do is sit and dwell on the past." Still no change. '_Even though that is what I did for her_?_'_

"I can't live like this anymore. I have made arrangements for you in a mental home. I'm sorry." I waited, I wanted him to fight. For him to argue me, for him to tell me that I couldn't do this to him. That I was being unreasonable, but he didn't. He just looked at me without a single change in his eyes. '_Am I really not worth it?'_

0-0-0-0-0-0

I watched him dully. He thought I didn't care about him, or anything he did, but he was wrong. I did care. I cared more then he would ever know. Every time he did something for me I wanted to thank him, but every time I tried to speak, I couldn't. Something kept me from saying anything. I know I am not the same person I use to be, but had I really changed so much that he didn't feel like I was worth fighting for anymore?

I had fought for her till the end. I had cared for him until my body gave out. How could he quit on me now? I had seen this coming though, I had seen it coming for a long time now. Every day he looked at me, he grew more and more hateful. His gaze now fell on me like fire, in the form of pity. I didn't want pity, I wanted to live again. In order for me to live though, I need someone to stretch out there arm and help me out of this black hole that had trapped me. I couldn't pull myself out of this place alone, the walls are to high, and I am to deep.

My bags are packed and I am standing at the door. Watching the one person I thought would fight for me, lock me out and turn their back. Everything I had ever done for him, dead and forgotten, just like her. I swung my bag over my shoulder. It was sad to think that everything I possessed in this world could fit into this one small bag. Down the road to the right, was the start of my path. I had no idea where my path would lead me, no idea where I was heading. I didn't have a map, I didn't have a guide, I had nothing. Not even my memories to direct me on which way to go.

I felt my legs moving automatically, my mind was still in a daze, the world still felt heavy, I still felt trapped, but my body felt free. For the first time I found myself back at that grave. I had watched, numbly as they had lowered her body slowly into the ground. From the ground we all come and to the ground we all return, sooner or later.

I knelled down in front of the grave, wiping away the leaves that had over ran the simple grave site. The second the leaves were gone, the name was reviled. I sat at the grave, looking at it with the same numbness I had felt when they had lowered her into the ground. I should have felt more, I know I should have, but it was hard to miss someone that had already been dead.

I wondered if that was how she had felt, as he had left our lives forever. If she had felt the same numbness towards him. Knowing one was suppose to be upset but not being able to bring one's self to actually be upset. I wondered if that is how she felt as she watched him walk out of a life he had never been a part of.

For five years I watched as she died, slowly, one piece at a time, with only me to slow her dissent. It wasn't a fair trade, I had been nine when I had became her lifeline. I watched those five years, I felt myself dieing with her, without a single way to stop it. No one knew until she was gone what those five years had done to me. I had held up my mask until she was gone, then I had let my world crumble around me.

Sometimes at night I could just barely see the glow of what had once been my dreams. I had thought I was going to do something with my life, but I had given it up to care for her. I grew up when I turned nine, I died when I turned fourteen and now, at fifteen, I was a ghost, a shell of the person I had once been. I ran a hand over the name on the grave, trying to feel something, anything to prove I was still alive.

I thought if I could just feel something, then maybe I stood a chance. If I could feel just one thing, I wouldn't feel quite so dead. It was no use though, I still felt numb. Is this what you felt like those five years? Dead to a world that thought you were still alive? Had you wanted to live again? I knew it didn't matter anymore what it had been like for you, because you had made your choice when you had stuck the gun to your head and pulled the trigger.

I had promised myself I wouldn't end up like that, like you. Sitting here now though, I'm not so sure. You had been strong for nine years, nine years that he was there without ever being there, I had only lasted for five, who was I to say I wouldn't end up like you?

My eyes closed as the first drops of rain fell gently onto my face. The breeze was kicking in, but I didn't bother to seek shelter. I had no where left to go, he didn't want me any longer, and I had no intentions of going to some home where they would treat me like just another nut case. I wasn't insane, I wasn't even really depressed, I was just done.

What would you say if you could see me now? Would you be disappointed in me or would you just look at me, the same way that he does? With the same unconcealed pity. I hate pity, it is the one thing I really can't stand. I'm done with pity, and if that is the only thing that people are ever going to show me, then I am done with them.

Rain was falling in heavy sheets now, soaking me to the bone and causing chills to rake my body. The rain stuck my hair to my face, causing it to fall in my eyes. I laid back on the headstone of your grave. When I woke up I would either be with you or with your grave. I never thought I would be like this, but now as the rain came pouring down and my body fell into sleep, I found everything was just to much.

I know this isn't what I want, but this is all I can do. I want to be saved, but no one is willing to save a corpse. I feel my eyes growing heavy as the rain continues its assault. I let my eyes fall shut and welcome the one thing that I have always welcomed, the sweet numbing escape of sleep. Before my eye shut completely though I see the silhouette of a figure looking down at me. The words slip out before my mind thinks it through. "I'm sorry." The moment the words leave my lips, I let myself float off to sleep. I knew this was the end, because no one was going to save me, but at least I got to sleep my pain away.

0-0-0-0-0-0

A lone figure walked through the graveyard on their way to a shop on the other side. He was a young man, only about sixteen with flaming red hair and chilled blue eyes. The boy hadn't meant to be walking through the graveyard, especially with the oncoming storm. He knew that rain would soon be pouring down on him, and he was looking for the fastest rout to shelter. That rout just happened to take him through the graveyard.

Graveyards had never really bothered him. Truth be told he didn't understand why they bothered most people. The people living could hurt you far more then the ones that were dead ever could. The first drop fell onto the figures face and he speed up his pace. He may not mind graveyards but he did mind the rain.

It only took a few seconds for the rain to start falling in harsh sheets around him. Something stopped his escape though. A single person out in the storm, their head against a gravestone, their body shaking from the evading cold. The person made no signs of moving, no signs that they even knew it was raining. The figures eyes were cold and distance. A lifeless pale color that shook the redhead. They appeared as lifeless as the people who normally inhabited these grounds. The redhead could tell it was a young boy, not far from his own age.

The redhead inched his way closer, hoping to get a reaction out of the boy. He watched the boy closely, he knew the boy had been out here for a long time. The rain had began to put the boy's body to sleep.

He was only a few feet away from the boy when he finally noticed the redhead. When the boy finally understood there was another person there, his reaction wasn't what the redhead had expected. The redhead caught the almost inaudible words as they floated through the rain. The words, 'I'm sorry.', the words were cold, lifeless, almost as if they had been said far to many times to hold any real meaning to the boy.

The redhead watched as the boy's eyes closed and his body slumped to the side. His head ending up in the wet grass, his hair mixing with the dirt. The redhead looked at the boy for a few more seconds before taking action. He ran under the nearest tree, taking out his cell phone he carefully dialed the number he had been avoiding for a long time.

It rang twice before finally the other answered. "Kai?" The redhead asked, he knew this was a bad idea but he had no one else he could turn to. "It's me Tala." Tala held his breath, hoping the other wouldn't hang up on him. "To long. Listen Kai, I need your help." Once again Tala waited and hoped the other wouldn't cut him out.

"I'm at the old graveyard on the west side of town . . . . oh and Kai bring some extra clothes if you can." Tala smiled, this was still a bad idea, but Kai hadn't hung up. Which made things better in his eyes. "Thank you, Kai." Tala slipped his cell phone back in his pocket inside his jacket.

He grabbed the raven haired boy and pulled him under the tree with him. The other boy wasn't dressed to be outside in the fall, much less in the rain. A white sleeveless shirt, ripped up blue jeans and some old running shoes were the only things that he wore. Tala himself wore a coat, long sleeved turtle neck and some nice thick jeans. Tala shrugged off his coat and laid it over the sleeping boy. It was then he noticed the bag hanging off the boy's shoulder. Tala laid the coat down on top of the boy, and pulled off the bag.

Pulling open the draw strings he looked in. He pulled out an old photo first. It was off a young woman, maybe in her early thirties and her two boys. Her rich brown eyes had the same lifeless appearance that he had seen in the boy's eyes earlier. Her light brown hair was draped gently over her shoulder. She wasn't in the picture though, she wasn't even looking at the camera, but at some point beyond it. The two boys were the same age and had the same black hair and amber eyes but after that the similarities ended. One of the boys was smiling at the camera, sitting cross-legged on the floor, his eyes shining with an innocents that could only be called bliss.

The other was much different. Standing beside the woman, a hand on her shoulder. He was smiling, but it was tired and forced, his eyes were dulled with a thick pain that shone in the amber depths. Both boys looked to be about twelve years old, but the second seemed much older. It didn't take Tala long to understand the serious boy in the picture was the same one that was here. He flipped over the picture and found something written on the back.

_'Arabella Kon and her two sons,_

_Raymond and Steffen. _

_5/4/04'_

Tala took a chance and looked back at the grave the boy had been sitting at only moments before.

_'Arabella DeFane Kon,_

_Born September 12 1972 – Died March 8 2005_

_An angel taken from earth far to soon'_

Tala didn't have to wonder long about the grave. He stuck the photo back in the bag, that photo had been taken only a year before the woman's death and if her dull eyes told the story correct. She had taken herself from the world. Tala looked around as the rain began to slow down. He sliding the photo back in and pulled out a little note book.

It was actually a sketch book, inside were many drawings of many different things. There was a lot of wild life, especially tigers. One picture of a lone gray wolf under a full moon caught Tala's attention. It was the last one in the book, all the pictures were very good, but they appeared as though the artist had erased it many times before finishing. The final picture of the wolf, like all the others, was dated. The date 3/1/05 graced the corner of the picture. No doubt the last one done before the boy's mother had died. He slipped the sketch book back in the bag and pulled it close, he could look at more later.

He could hear the sound of approaching foot steps, and soon enough the other person came into view. His duel colored hair was laying flat, soaked by the rain, his jacket was pulled up tight around him covering his body. "Tala, what's going on?" The other asked. Tala noticed that his voice was horse, which made the redhead cringe slightly.

He knew what happened to his friend when he wasn't around, but he couldn't do anything about it. Tala looked down at the kid, making sure not to meet his friends eyes. "I found him sleeping on the grave over there. He was freezing when I found him and I didn't know who else to call." Kai knelled down by the boy, putting a hand on his exposed arm. Tala was right about one thing, the kid was freezing. It was then he noticed the redhead shiver as well.

"Tala how long ago did you put the coat on him?" Tala shrugged his shoulders, he really didn't know how long ago it had been. Kai stood up, picking the younger boy up with him. He was amazed at how light the other was. How much did the kid weight? Not enough, that's all Kai needed to know. "Come on Tal, you need to get dried off too. We can head back to my place and -" Kai swallowed roughly, his throat was way to dry to be talking as much as he was. It was painful to say the least..

"Kai stop, let's just go." Tala said standing and giving the other a push to go.

0-0-0-0-0-0

My eyes opened weakly. I was sore and tired, but I was alive. I also was dry and warm. I sat up, still in a daze. The covers that were wrapped around me falling as I did. I wanted to pull them back around me and fall back asleep, but something stopped me from doing that. There were two figures in the room besides me.

Both about my age. One of them had bright red hair that reached just past his shoulders, he was curled up in a blanket sitting in an arm chair. The other had split colored hair, slate bangs in the front that hung in his eyes, and a dark blackish-blue hair in the back that was about the same length as the redhead's. He was sitting in a recliner, his head resting on his arms, as if he had been trying to prop himself up. Both were sound asleep.

I looked around the room again. I didn't know this place, I didn't know how I had gotten here, and I didn't know who these people were. All of a sudden the redhead opened his eyes. He blinked a few times at me before he turned to the other boy in the room. "Ay, Kai wake up." The one named Kai, opened his eyes. As soon as he did he spotted me awake as well.

"Well look who's up. How are you feeling?" I just looked at them, not really staring, just looking. I wanted to respond to them, but I couldn't. I knew my eyes were still dull, still dead. I could still feel the cold nothingness that was growing in me beating faster then my own heart. "Is your name Ray?" The redhead asked, I turned to look at him. Had he sent them after me?

No, he didn't care what happened to me. I looked closer, at them. The redhead's ice blue eyes looked concerned and the slate's crimson ones looked intrigued but neither had a look of pity. I opened my mouth to speak. The word cracked in my throat, but it came out as a strangled yes. The slate haired one looked at the redhead as if he was going to ask something, but never did. Instead he turned back to me. "Ray, alright then my name is Kai and that is Tala. Can you tell us why you fell asleep at the graveyard in the rain?"

Kai was now sitting forward, as if to say 'I'm listening'. I didn't know what to do. No one had ever listened to me before. I had always kept everything to myself, not letting anyone in for fear of them getting hurt. I just kept looking at them, my gaze not changing despite my inner turmoil. "KAI!" The voice was loud, to loud. I felt myself flinch away.

I had lived the last year of my life in almost total silence. Even the two boy's soft voices were loud for me, but that, that had been painfully loud. The other two saw me flinch, I know they did, but they appeared more excited then concerned. Then I got why, if I reacted to the voice, that meant that I was still saveable. What I didn't understand though, is why did they care? Why should it matter to them whether I was alright or not?

No one ever cared for me, for my thoughts, for my life. Why should two people who don't even know who I am, care about me when my own family didn't? "Tal, I got to go. I'll be right back." Kai said standing and going to, no doubt, answer to the 'to loud' voice. Once Kai was gone Tala turned his attention back to me. "You were visiting your mothers grave, weren't you?" I just looked at him, I had learned a long time ago that just looking at a person worked far better then words. "She committed suicide didn't she?" I wasn't surprised that he had guessed about her. I was surprised though that he didn't look at me with that stupid pity everyone felt obliged to give me when they figured it out. "You suffer from depression or something, right?" Once again I just looked at him.

He stood up and walked over to me. He held out his hand and in it were the pills I was suppose to be taking. "I hope you don't mind but I kind of looked through your bag. That's how I knew your name. I am also guessing you haven't taken these in a very long time. Since that bottle should have ran out like three months ago if you were taking them the way you should be."

He grabbed a glass of water from the bedside table and held it, and the pills, out for me. "Come on take' em" I looked at him, finally forcing myself to speak. "Why?" I hated the sound of my own voice, it was weak and cracked. Tala just smiled at me though. "Because you need them. You might not of stuck a gun to your head or slit your wrist but you tried to hurt yourself."

For the first time I looked away from him. When he grabbed my hands though I looked back. He put the pills in one of my hands and held out the water, "Listen Ray, I can see it in your eyes. You don't want to be like this. You want to get better. I don't know why no one has helped you before now, but if you really do want to get better I am willing to help you."

I closed my hand around the pills. He was right, I did want to get better. More then anything else in the world, but why would he want to help me, he didn't even know me. "Why?" I whispered again, once again hating the sound of my own voice. "Because it's the right thing to do." He said once again holding out the water. He wanted to help me, he was reaching out. He was doing the one thing I had wanted someone to do for so long. All I had to do was reach out and grab his hand.

I took my chance, I took the water from him and downed the pills. I saw the smile that broke out across his face as I did this. Could it really mean that much to him? He sat down on the corner of the bed and for the first time I wondered where I was. "Where?" I said, my voice slowly becoming stronger. I took a sip of water noticing that it eased the pain in my throat. "Kai's place. Oh and drink as much as you can, you are really dehydrated." I looked around the room.

I was changed out of the wet clothes I had donned earlier and instead was wearing some loss sweatpants and a tee-shirt. The room I was in was obviously Kai's. Unless he had siblings, but I doubt they would have put me in a sibling's room. The walls had different bands up, most of them I had never heard of, but that wasn't surprising. I hadn't listened to much music as of late. My Chemical Romance, Simple Plan, and Three Days Grace being the main three. There was also a guitar rack in the corner, in which sat two guitars. One appeared to be used quit frequently due to the wear on the neck and the chipped paint around the body. The other one was in much better condition and looked to be a show guitar[1].

"He plays." Tala looked back at me, he looked confused for a second but he got over it quickly. "Kai? Yeah he does, do you?" I took another sip of water, loving the relief it gave my throat. "Not anymore." I said my voice slowly regaining it's normal sound. "Why not?" He asked, I knew at this point he was just trying to keep me talking, but it had been so long since I had talked to someone I didn't really care. "I stopped to take care of my mom."

There was a slight silence, I knew he was trying to think of something else to talk about. "You draw, right? I saw the pictures in your sketch book." I looked away, I didn't like my drawings, actually I hated them. None of them were any good. I had meant to burn it along time ago, but I couldn't ever bring myself to do it. The sketch book had been the last thing she had given me before she went into her elongated state of depression. I had sketched most of them while waiting on her to get out of her appointments. That's why there were so many tigers, tigers had always been her favorite animal.

I was spared having to answer as Kai came back into the room. His cheek was red and he looked slightly out of breath. "Kai, are you alright?" Tala asked standing up and rushing to his friend. Kai shrugs off his friends concern. I watched as he walked into the room. He had a slight limp, a limp I know he hadn't had when he left the room.

"Ray, do you have any family that we could call?" I looked at him, trying to read his face. He wasn't like Tala. Where Tala was independent, quick to speak and open. Kai wasn't, he was guarded, closed off, tight, controlled. I knew it had something to do with the loud voice from earlier, but I was to tired to do anything about it. "Not anymore." I said. There was a lot of things I didn't have anymore. Family was just one of them. "Not anymore?" Kai asked sitting on the bed where Tala had once sat. "My brother threw me out. He said I was killing him . . ." I trailed off as the truth sank in for the first time.

For the first time I realized, he had left me. My heart pulled painfully tight in my chest. My breathing felt forced, I bowed my head so that my bangs could hide my eyes. I felt a hand I my shoulder but I couldn't look up. I felt my world catching up to me, and for the first time in years, the numbness didn't chase it away. "Ray?" I looked up at the two of them as I felt something wet slide down my cheek.

I reached up and touched my cheek as more drops of water trailed down. "I didn't mean to." I said it so quietly that I wasn't sure if I myself had heard it. I felt the hand on my shoulder tighten it's grip. "Ray, listen this isn't your fault, if you have nowhere else to go then you can stay here." Kai said sitting in front of me. I looked to my right to see Tala smiling at me. His smile was slightly forced, but it wasn't pity.

I felt everything become painful again. Tears spilled down my cheeks faster now and I blinked to try and rid myself of them, but it was no use. I didn't want to die, I wanted to live, they were giving me a chance to live, all I had to do was take it. So why was it so painful? Why did it hurt so much when it was what I wanted? I lowered my gaze once again. Taking in a deep shaky breath, I leaned my head onto the shoulder beside me. I was to tired to fight anything, right now all I wanted to do was rest.

Rest without having to think about who I was protecting. Rest in which all I had to do was sleep. "Thank you." I said finally, my eyes drifting shutting, tears still seeping from the corners. It was then that I knew what the pain was, that burning ache deep in my heart was something I never expected, but I had no doubt that was what it was. I let out a deep breath. For the first time in a long time my heart was beating faster then the pain. I then finally drifted to sleep. with the sweet burning of hope flickering inside me.

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**[1]** I don't think this is a real depression symptom but my friend that had chronic depression was extremely observant. Because he was never engaged in activities, he caught everything that happened. Like I said if that isn't a real depression symptom, sorry.

The next two chapters are either going to dig a little deeper back (With Kai and Tala) or keep going from here. But most likely the former. Hope you all enjoyed it.

Reviewer responses:

**Mimi 007:** Thank you so much. I think I wanted to write this story so I could really get to the emotions of people. If you can tell the actions are really very minimum in this story and is revolving mainly around the characters hearts, so it makes me really happy to hear that you think I did a good job at that. I fought myself a long time on whether or not to just leave it (I am hoping I made the right choice) but I think that the this chapter (and the next two) will explain how come the three of them are the way they are. Also I am glad you think the song worked with it. Sorry about the mistakes, I would have sent it to you but I wrote it in a moment on vacation and just had to send it. Sorry you are going to have to wonder what is going on a little longer since I am going back in time right now. I must always thank you for your review though. You really have no idea how much they mean to me! I feel like you are part of my family.

**The Shadow's Wolf:** Wow, dear I must be honest I did not think you would read this. You normally hate 'heart to heart junk' but I am glad you did. The story is sad, but at the same time it is happy. And yes, Kai sings in this. Oh and so you know the story is looking to be about a six chapter story. (Two in the present and four in the past) Love you dear.

**My Own Demise: **Thank you for your review. I am going to keep this going as a short fic because there are so many things I can do with it right now. Like I have said this is a story that will focus on the people and not the actions. I hope you keep enjoying this, BTW this is based off the song 'Wish you Well' but only the first chapter is going to really be a "song fic". Anyways I must say thanks for always reviewing.

READ THIS PLEASE:This is the one thing I have to say, Suicide is NOT a cliché, the first person to tell me it is can talk to me personally. I have lost two good friends to that monster and I will not have people writing it off as angst teen drama. (Sorry about ranting to the people that don't feel that way)

Hope this chapter lived up to the first. Until next time.


	3. Faith Like Doubt

**Summery: **We were once invincible, untouchable, inseparable. The three of us living above the world, without listening to a word they said. Then that one word brought our whole world crashing down on us, goodbye. No matter what though, I wish you well, my friend.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own beyblade nor do I own 'Wish you well' by thousand foot Krutch

**Dedication:** This chapter is dedicated to Blake Emerson.

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We will always love and remember you, for you will always be in our hearts.**  
'**_An angelus captus ex terra a amicus take recedentia ut nunc.' _

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~**Faith like Doubt**~

I laid my head back with a sigh. It had been two weeks since they had began taking care of me. It had been hard. I knew I hadn't been eating like I should have in sometime, to the point that even a light soup had made me sick. Slowly they had worked me up to the point where I could handle an actual meal about twice a day.

The worst part though was the medicine. Not only did it drain me of all my energy but it also numbed me. I hated that feeling, I had spent so long feeling numb, but it wasn't the same numbness.

This numbness chased away the pain instead of increasing it. I hadn't been able to bring myself to speak to them again though. I kept thinking about one thing, Steffen. I had to talk to him first, I couldn't leave things like they were. I couldn't loss him too. I knew he felt like he had lost me already, and the truth was he had, but I was trying to come back to him. He needed to know that.

I looked over to the chair by the door. Either Tala or Kai had stayed with me constantly, not so much because they were worried about what I might do, but more that they wanted me to know they were there. It was Tala at the time. In the short time I had been here, I could see how different the two were. but how well they went together. Fire and Ice if you will, opposites that somehow coexist. Tala appeared open, but deep down held his secrets within, where as Kai kept on a cold, far off, appearance to keep others away. In some ways, both strategies worked, but at the same time neither of them did.

Every time they walked in the door, I understood them a little better. There was something about Tala though, something that wasn't there with Kai. A raw hurt, that comes from being left behind. Kai held another pain, one I wasn't familiar with, one I couldn't place. Tala though, Tala I could place. It was the same raw pain that had tore through my brother and myself when he had walked out. He hadn't ever been there so I don't know why it hurt, maybe because he took our mother with him, or maybe because it was him finally admitting that we didn't matter to him.

I had wanted to ask Tala about the pain, I wanted to know them, but I wouldn't open closed wounds, and I wouldn't salt open ones, and so I stayed silent. Watching them, each day glimpsing their hearts through unguarded eyes. I don't think they knew that when they let their guard down, I looked in. They kept their guard up until they thought I was asleep, or they thought I was to out of it to notice, but I was never really 'out of it'. That was my minds way of working. The closer I became to normality, the stronger it would get too.

Tala was halfway asleep, it was 12:40 and Kai was going to take over at 1:00. I trusted Kai, but Tala was the one that understood how I felt. "Tala?" I whispered, my voice low, but strong. Something it hadn't been in a long time. Tala sat up suddenly at the sound of my voice. "Ray? What's up?" He asked as I sat up in bed. "Tala, I need something." He stood up, ready to get me whatever I needed. "What do you need?" I locked eyes with him, letting my emotions flood my eyes, I wasn't going to hide anything from them."I need to see him again, I need to show him." I couldn't bring myself to say anymore. I looked at Tala to see he understood. His eyes flashing that same raw pain I had seen so many times before. "Where does your brother live?"

I looked down, closing my eyes. Who was to say that he would even be there any longer? He could have left, he could have moved on. Two weeks was a long time to wait on someone. "Steffen Kon, 1210 Knox st." I said thinking about the house that had been my home for so much of my life. "Go to sleep Ray. I'll take care of things alright?" I looked over at him, his blue eyes guarded, this pained him, and I could see it did. I wish I knew why he hurt so much, but still I wouldn't ask. I would do as he told me and sleep, trusting him to do as he said he would.

I laid back in the bed, letting out a long breath. In such a short amount of time I had learned to trust them. I knew Tala would do what I asked him to do. I took one more breath, before I closed my eyes. "Take the key, it's in my bag." I felt him nod behind me, as I felt exhaustion and relief flood over me for the first time in a long time, and so I fell asleep.

Tala took the key out of the duffel bag that held everything that the younger teen had left in the world. Tala opened the bag, a key, a photo, a sketchbook, and a silver rose pendent were the only things other then a few articles of clothes that the small bag contained.

Tala removed the key from the bag, part of him feeling like he was removing a part of the younger teen as he did so. A part of the past, a key to the past, a key to the pain, it was all the same thing. The redhead closed his eyes, images of the past resurrected through the pain.

_'Don't worry kiddo, I'll be back in just a little bit.' Bright blue eyes looked down at him. _Her words had sounded so true, she had seemed so true. Tala pocketed the key before the memories could stop him. Tala ran down the stairs, he wanted to leave, get out of the house before Kai returned. He had to deal with his own past in his own way, as they all did, even if that past made others hurt as well.

Once the redhead had cleared the mansion he began to slow his retreat. Cold air engulfed him with its icy arms, and Tala decided that cutting through the park would be the fastest way to get to his destination. He fingered the key in his pocket, it was a key to another world, a world that one had tried to bury and failed, and no matter who's world it was that was buried, it was his own past that was revived. He could see his past clearly, crystalline visions that pained him to the core.

_Tala sat on a park bench, his young eyes looking to the girl that stood beside him. The air was cold and her eyes looked distant, even to the child that trusted her completely. "Tala, I'm going to be gone for a little but don't worry kiddo, I'll be back in just a bit, alright?" Her bright blue eyes looked down at him. Tala smiled brightly at her, before nodding his head. "Alright sissy, I'll wait right here, promise." The child held out his pinky waiting for the only one he trusted to make her promise._

"_Yeah, promise." She said, hooking her own pinky around his. The redhead saw the older men waiting at the end of the park. And as his sister walked away, they began their approach. There was one lady with them, her hazel eyes betraying her. "Hello there sweet heart, my name is Elisa and we are here to take you somewhere nice, alright?" Tala shook his head, his ice blue eyes looking towards the park edge where his sister stood. "No, I have to wait for my sissy, she just has to do something.'"Elisa looked back to the girl, her boyfriend had came to join her at this point. "I'm afraid that your sister has given you up, it was just to much responsibility for a child to handle."_

Tala shook his head, clearing his mind of the images, he could still see his sisters blue eyes watching from the sidelines as that woman tore the last of their family apart. It was a goodbye that had never come, and it was a betrayal that had tore his life apart. Tala moved from the edge of the park, entering deeper into it's hold, deeper into the memories that held their ground within its walls.

"Catch me if you can!" Tala turned at the voice, he saw a two children running away from one another, one of them grabbing a swing as base. The sound of the old swings creaking in the steady winds drew Tala back yet again, a time after pain, a time after trust, a time before goodbyes.

_A young redhead ran through the park faster then he had ever run before. He had to outrun the goodbyes that were coming, he just wanted to outrun everything, everything in his life that had come and gone, everything that wasn't going to stay, everything that was temporary and everything that ended in goodbye. He fell as a rise in the ground tripped him off his feet, landing him face first in the sand under the swings._

_He looked up ready to run again. "What are you doing?" The redhead looked up to the swings where another young boy sat, swinging back and forth without looking at the intruding boy. "I'm running, what does it look like?" The other boy just continued to swing, his slate hair flying in the self-created winds. "From what?" Tala got to his knees, brushing the sand off him. "Everything." Tala said, his voice a bitter whisper. "Well that's stupid."_

"_What do you know?" The redhead screamed at the other, ice blue eyes turning to look at the slate haired teen in spite. The slate haired boy just shrugged his shoulders and continued to swing. "I know that running isn't going to fix anything. Stuff is going to change anyways." The redhead felt his anger slowly ebbing away, the heated rage dimming to a glow. "How do you know that? Stuff doesn't have to change." The redhead challenged, his voice however come out more as a plea then a challenge. The slate haired teen looked up to the sky as he swung, picking up momentum as if he wanted to escape to the sky._

"_I don't know how, but I do now that things will change. I don't know if it is for the better or for the worse, but things are always changing. You just have to be willing to change with it." The slate haired boy said as the redhead looked down. "How can you say things like that? I mean . . . how do you know things will change?"_

_The slate haired boy slowed down slightly but didn't stop. He looked down at the redhead for the first time, with stone cold crimson eyes. "Because they always do. They changed for you didn't they? Maybe not for the better but it did change, no one ever said every change would be for the better. You just have to take the bad changes and enjoy the good." The redhead looked up, his ice blue eyes meeting with crimson red ones. "How do you know this stuff?" The crimson eyed boy finally stopped swinging. "Because it happened to me, and no one can get away from that rule. Trust me, I've tried, it doesn't work." That is when both understood, and that was the first step._

Tala knew if he hadn't of meet Kai that day, his life would have been far different. Running had always seemed like the right choice to him, but Kai had changed his mind, he had changed everything, and he was right. Change was always happening, it was just a matter of being willing to change with it.

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_Light flooded around me as I looked to the sky, to the stars that surrounded me. Wind rushed me from the chasm that was open before me. I could see images in front of me, calling me to jump, calling me to let go and melt into the nothingness of the light. Laughter floated around me, a sound I hadn't heard in I don't even know how long. I could see my mother's face in the stars, smiling at me, calling me, her laughter sending my mind into a sweet state of peace. _

_There was another with her though, a young boy with green eyes, he smiled at me. A smile that seemed familiar to me and yet at the same time distant. I focused in on the eyes, and the chasm disappeared, the sky vanished and the laughter stopped._

_I was sitting in a room with four white walls with only one other person. He was a boy, my age, dark green eyes and spiked brown hair. He smiled once before the smile vanished. He looked forward and his eyes locked the pain, I opened my mouth to speak but nothing would come. I knew him from my past, the past I had locked away, a past I had tried to lock away forever. _

_He looked at me and looked down at my hands, I followed his gaze only to see my sketchbook opened to a page farther back. The picture was one I didn't remember, an eagle that had been caged, breaking from its binds, the cage melted into a silver mist around the majestic bird. _

_Then all at once the sound rushed back. "Ray! It's perfect, thank you." The other boy said smiling at me, I didn't answer, but at the same time I did. "You sure? I can draw another one if you want." The other boy shook his head, his legs crossing in front of him. "No, don't do another one. The reason it is is so special is because it is one of a kind. If you make another one, it wouldn't be special anymore." His eyes seemed far off to me, and something in them seemed familiar, more familiar then anything ever before. "I don't understand Blake, why are you here? I mean you don't seem . . ."_

_I watched as the other boy looked away, his eyes becoming guarded. "I'm here because my dad is a jerk. He hit me and my mom, and one day my mom just said no more. They're both gone now." He turned back to me, but something changed,_ _his eyes went cold and his skin went pale, and then he just vanished. The white walls turned to black, and the chairs turned to a coffin. Voices drifted away again as the sound vanished from the world. I looked into the coffin, looking down at the now lifeless form of my friend._

_His eyes opened suddenly, the dead green irises began to shift. The color melting into a fiery crimson as they stared up at me. I tried to speech, but the words caught in my throat. The corps sat up, blood ran from the long slit that controlled his throat. I brought my eyes away from the crimson orbs long enough to take in the figure._

_His spiked brown hair had changed into slate bangs, with navy blue in the back. I felt my breath catch in my throat. The figures hands were stained red with their own blood, the hole in his neck still trickling blood. "They made me do it, I just wanted the pain to stop, they made me" I couldn't breath, his words were spoken by two voices. The voice of my friend who I had been powerless to save and the voice of the one I had yet to understand._

_The shifting eyes looked upward to a world beyond. As I looked up the ceiling shattered, showering me in broken glass, blood dripping from each piece. I covered my head with my hands and waited for the shower of glass to halt. As the last of the glass fell I moved my hands away from my face. Bright night stars shined down on me from between the branches of the trees._

_I looked around at what could be seen, graves surrounded me, and sitting on one of the graves was a young child with brown hair and green eyes, he was sitting on a grave his feet swinging back and forth. Another figure stood behind him, this one was older and stood facing away from me, his back against the grave, his slate bangs swiping in the invisible winds. The younger one smiled at me, his hands dyed crimson._

"_It hurts, I'm sorry that it hurts but you can stop the hurt. Stop the lies." I tried to responded to him, to ask him what he meant, but nothing came. I saw a light glow behind the boy. Transparent gold wings shimmering behind him. "Only you," He whispered as he looked to the stars, and with a flash of light he was gone. I was looking at the back of the other figure, trying to put together what was happening. Then I saw it, the glint of silver that came from the figures hand as he put the gun to his neck._

_The world went white as the sound of a gun pierced through the silence, I watched as everything around me turned red and the figure fell to the ground. I heard a voice laughing in the distances as I ran to the fallen figures side. His crimson eyes began to dull as, dark red life flowed from his neck. He looked up at me, a faint smile on his face as the person laughed somewhere in the distances._

_I fell to my knees at his side, I could feel tears pricking in my eyes. "Kai, please don't do this. I'm sorry I didn't understand. I know now, I know why you hurt. I can help you, I can make it stop. Just let me make it stop, KAI!" I grabbed his hand, his blood staining my own. "He made me do it, why wouldn't it stop, why didn't the lies stop?" His voice was brittle as the last of his breath left him._

_I shook my head, as his figure melted away. Silver and red mist filling the area around me. I looked up to the sky as I heard the call of a bird. An eagle was soaring above me, silver mist falling from its wings. Beside the eagle soared a crimson phoenix. Its fiery wings spread wide as the chains that bound it dissolved into red mist. "Blake . . . I'm sorry I couldn't break your binds." The eagle cawed as the mist around it dissolved into nothingness taking the bird with it. _

_I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned around. Loving eye looked down at me, a smile present on her face. "You can still save him Raymond. Don't give up until all the pieces have fallen. I trust in you my dear, you have never given up before so don't give up on me now." I closed my eyes as I felt my mothers hand vanish. She was right about one thing, it was never to late._

I sat up in the bed, my mind suddenly clear in everything. The eyes and pain that I hadn't known before, the ending that was anything but happy. I felt my mind switch back to full alert, I felt my mind work the way it had years ago. I pushed the covers off, jumping from my bed before I could fully think.

I tore the door open and instantly I was lost. In the two weeks I had been here I had yet to be out of the room, but that didn't change what I needed to do. "KAI!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, praying that whoever it was that was normally in the house, wasn't home at the current time. Within moments I heard the steady footfall of someone racing up the stairs. "Ray? What's wrong?" He was out of breath and looked slightly panicked, but all I could see was his eyes going cold, as they flickered from crimson to emerald.

"You can't." It came out a a weak breath, and I didn't know what else I could say. There was nothing I could say to make him understand what I was trying to tell him. "Ray come on, let's get you calmed down, alright?" I shook my head, I didn't know why this was important, why it mattered now, or why I ever remembered now, but I wasn't crazy. The other pain, the pain I couldn't place, the pain that set Kai apart from Tala and myself, it was the same, yet at the same time not, it was the pain of a family member that hurt you in more ways then one. It's the pain of not knowing where else to turn. "Kai, I don't know who it is and I don't know what exactly they have done to you, or maybe what they are doing to you, but you need to know that they are lying to you!" My words were so frantic that even I didn't understand them.

"Ray, what are you talking about?" He placed his hands on my shoulders and I could still see the flickering colors of his eyes, I could see blood on his hands, dying his skin red. "Kai . . ." I felt my voice betray me as I tried to make him understand. "Who hurt you?" It was at that moment that something changed, and it was as if the world fell away.

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Tala saw the house as soon as he was out of the park. It was a simple one story with a wrap around porch and a white swing out front. Tala approached the home, his mind already set on what he needed to do and what he was going to say.

He walked up the walkway. He saw old toys that had been discarded for years that sat hidden by times work. A small car that looked as if it had been abandoned years ago, discarded with the youth of the child Tala now felt compelled to help. His gut twisted as he saw that the house was completely dark.

"Excuse me but are you looking for someone?" Tala turned on his heels to face the assaulting voice. A ma stood on the pouch of the house next door. He was a middle age man with a business like persona. Tala turned to the man and nodded. "Actually I am, I'm looking for Steffen, Steffen Kon." The man's eyes darken as the name was uttered. "If you are looking for Steffen I suggest you buy a plane ticket, because that boy hightailed it out of here the second his brother left."

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Please read

: Blake Emerson, a good friend of mine, committed suicide about four months ago. I have based Kai's story somewhat off his own. I really feel that if someone had reached out to him he would have been saved. 'An angelus captus ex terra a amicus take recedentia ut nunc', is Latin for 'An angel taken from earth, a friend taken far to soon'.

I am sorry for rambling on about this but this whole story is my own coping. All three characters are based off people I know and love in real life. (Blake(Kai), Mark Reelin(Tala) and Matthew Fray(Ray))

**Mimi 007: **I am glad you still like the story, and almost as much as a crazed murder, that's good . . . I think? Your right actions aren't the most important in this, which is a HUGE change for me and a big risk I am trying to take, so I am hoping it will pay off. I am glad you can see Ray the way I have wrote him, again that was another risk I wasn't sure about and don't worry about hitting a personal thing with me, this story is just personal. I do actually have experience with a person suffering from depression. My friend (Matthew) has suffered from chronic depression for years now, some days are better then others but he has been a very strong person through it all, supporting his brother even though he is the one that needs support. And I am planing to go more in depth with Kai and Tala next chapter, I kind of broke the surface of Tala's past and am about to with Kai's so hopefully next chapter their stories will come to light. I realize not everyone feels it is cliché, so thanks for being one of them. Plus no experience is harder then any other, it is just how you look at it and use it later on the determines how damaging it was. Thanks for always reading and reviews (And I swear I will catch up in Bound to Change soon. **Does puppy eyes** If I hadn't been so damn busy you would have a review for ever single chapter, swear!)

**Racerabbit: **Thank you for such a complement, I am glad you gave this a shot despite it not being your normal genre, in a way that makes me feel even better. The song 'Wish you well' is a very emotional song and I was petrified I wouldn't be able to capture it, I am ecstatic to hear I did, thank you sooooo much for reviewing, and your right change is good!

Only about three more chapters left!

P.S Don't forget about the poll on my page!

~Gateway


	4. Life Hurts Like Now

**Summery: **We were once invincible, untouchable, inseparable. The three of us living above the world, without listening to a word they said. Then that one word brought our whole world crashing down on us, goodbye. No matter what though, I wish you well, my friend.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own beyblade nor do I own 'Wish you well' by thousand foot Krutch

**~Life Hurts just like Now~**

Ray smiled, humming a song as he walked down the aisle of the store. Picking up the grocery's for the week. It had been a long road to recovery, but he was making it slowly, he was putting back his life together piece by piece. With every day that passed he became more and more himself. "What is a good deal, this stuff all looks alike." Kai growled, coming up behind Ray. Ray smirked and turned back to face Kai.

"Really Kai you are going to have to get use to finding sales, now that you aren't blessed with unlimited amounts of money." Kai shook his head, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "Thanks for the reminder, Ray." Ray shrugged his shoulders. He couldn't remember how long after his 'mental breakdown' Kai had started opening up to him. It wasn't to long after wards he didn't think, but everything during those few months had all blurred together. "You wanna talk about something, maybe?" Ray said picking up a few cans of soup and putting them in the basket. "I'm alright, just tired I guess. All these legal issues, and fighting over who did what, I'm just ready for it to all be over."

Ray smiled kindly at his friend and savior. "Everything will work out in the end, you have to admit though even this is better then having to look over your shoulder every few minutes." Kai nodded his head, leaning back against a shelve. Tala came around the corner, a 2 litter of soda in his hands. "Alright, so with all this our grand total is up to . . . Kai?" Tala asked, setting the drink down. Kai looked over their supplies. "25.40, including tax." Ray smiled at his friends. "Come on you two, stop acting so morbid. Things are finally looking up, so we have a little less money now then we did, that doesn't mean the world is coming to an end." As they left the store and headed back for home Tala looked at the black haired teen that stood before him.

He seemed like a different person compared to the broken boy they had found only a year ago. When they had found him, they would have never thought he would have spoken to them, never would have pictured the smiling optimistic teenager that he was capable of being. They never would have thought that taking in that broken child, would in turn be the action that saved them both.

Tala knew the direction of his life had changed completely since he had meet the other boy. Ray had made him open up about his past, about that pain that resonated deep within the reaches of his heart. The parts that he hadn't let anyone into since his sister had left him to the mercy of the 'system'.

Day in and day out, foster home after foster home, broken promise after broken promise, it was an endless cycle that he had felt trapped in. Eventually he had ran into Kai and he had helped him deal a little bit, but they had only been kids at the time. They were still learning how the world worked, and then Tala had broken the sacred promise that he had made to Kai and used what he knew against him, and in turn he had lost Kai. He had thought he had lost Kai forever, that the other teen wouldn't ever look at him again, much less talk to him.

Then Ray had come along, and they had worked together, out of a sense of protection they both felt for their adopted younger brother. That was their truth, they had become so much more then friends, they had become family.

When Ray had found out about his brother leaving, he had been so broken, Tala had reached out to him, telling him everything that he could think to tell him in that small moment. Telling him of his own pain at his sister doing the same to him, they had drawn so close through that pain, and then Tala had learned that Ray had figured out Kai. That he had broken past that wall that Kai had established around himself for so long. It was so hard not to break down at seeing the ever strong Kai, broken and afraid. He had never let himself think about his own situation, he had just accepted it as fact. Never questioning it, it was a hard thing to see, it was even harder to know that Kai had lived it.

Tala saw Kai shake his head, a small smile creeping onto his face and he tuned back into reality. Ray was speaking to him, his voice held the same excitement as a young child's. "We'll get through this, I mean when you compare this to the rest of our lives this is a cake walk." Ray said, then he cast the most sincere smile in Kai's direction. "Besides, for the first time, you aren't doing this alone. With me and Tala beside you, the court will have no choice but to put an end to that maniac for good."

With that everything seemed alright. Kai knew that Ray was telling the truth. With his friends everything would be alright. He hadn't been able to before but now with those two beside him, the tables were turned. So what if his Grandfather had kicked him out, so what if he had disowned him, he had want mattered, he had his friends, he had his freedom, and most of all he had his life back. For the first time in years he wasn't afraid of what was to come, he was ready. He was ready to move on and do what he had always dreamed of doing.

And he wasn't the only one, he had seen Ray looking at his guitar on more then one occasion and the young teens words repeatedly echoed in his mind. 'I gave it up, to take care of her.' Now that he was free from that responsibility, he was so different, now that he was allowing himself to live again, it was easy to see where his dreams lied.

Kai thought about the song he had been writing. Late at night after the other two had went to bed, he would grab his guitar and starts strumming an aimless tune, a tune that just felt right to him, but no matter how many times he played the notes, the words just wouldn't seem to come.

Then one night Ray had woken up. Kai remembered watching as the boy looked out the window, totally oblivious to Kai's presents. The rain had came down in harsh sheets over the window, just like it had been on the day they had meet. Kai hadn't been able to keep his mind from thinking how accurately the rain symbolized their lives. A constant haze that hung over them, with no warning as to when it was going to fall on them, a life like rain.

As he watched the teen staring out the window, his eyes filling with pain, a pain that came from the separation he suffered, being pulled from his brother the way he was. No matter what his brother had done to hurt him, just as no matter what Tala's sister and Kai's own grandfather had done to them, they would always love them deep within their hearts, with a love like pain.

It was the final look in his eyes though that hurt Kai the most that night. No matter how much hope he had, no matter how many positives he found in life, it was painfully obvious that trapped behind that glass as the rain fell like their lives, he doubted, he doubted himself, what he was doing and what he was meant to do. A faith like doubt, a doubt that had him trapped behind the glass as his life broke away.

It was in that moment that he really felt everything catch up with himself, and when he did he had let out a sigh and that had been what had alerted Ray to his presences. They had talked for a little bit, before Ray had asked what was wrong. It was then that Kai told him his thoughts, he told him how sorry he was that everything had been so hard on the younger teen in his life, and that he wished that he could take it all away, it was Ray's reply though that had stuck with him "Sometimes life hurts, like now for instance, but it always comes back around in the end, and even when everything hurts and its all falling apart, you always have your friends to lean on. Cause it's all like one long adventure, an adventure to find yourself."

Kai thought about everything that had been said that night, it was the very next night that Kai had thought of the words to the song.

_'Sometimes love, feels like pain, and sometimes I wonder if it's all the same, sometimes life, feels just like rain, cause you never know, when it's gonna  
fall down on you  
I wish you well, I wish you well, on this trip to find yourself, I wish you well, wish I could help, but I can't help you find yourself  
Sometimes faith, feels like doubt, and sometimes I wonder if we'll even get out, sometimes life hurts just like now, but ya gotta know, it's all gonna  
come back around  
I wish you well, I wish you well, on this trip to find yourself, I wish you well, wish I could help, but I can't help you find yourself_'

As Kai had thought about the song, and about everything that he had thought the night before he realized, that this song was theirs. The pain they had felt, the lives they had lead. This was for them, and it was only missing one thing. A final verse, a verse that would sum up their lives and tell of their lives yet to come.

Kai opened the door to their small apartment, flipping on the light before walking to the kitchen to put up some dishes. It was then that an idea hit him. "Hey Ray, grab my guitar would you?" Ray looked at the dual haired teen before he nodded and went off to grab the guitar. Tala looked over at Kai, his eyes narrowing. "What are you up to?" He asked Kai, as the oldest teen put the food away. "Do you remember when Ray told us he had given up music to take care of his mother?" Tala nodded once, now more curios then ever to see where Kai was heading with this. "Do you remember that little music place a few blocks from here." Tala thought about it for a few seconds. "Second Fret?" Kai nodded his head once, before he dropped his voice. "I know the booker for their music, I think it may be a good idea to let Ray play there."

Tala thought about it for a second, before voicing his only concern about it. "Yeah that's true, but the only thing is, we haven't ever actually heard him play." Kai let the smallest of smiles cross his face. "I know." It was then that Ray finally came back in, rubbing the back of his head. "Okay, why do you keep your guitar under the bed?" Ray asked, more then a little irritated. Kai shrugged. As Ray tried to give him the guitar however Kai shook his head. "How about you play something this time, I'm to tired."

Ray looked a little floored. "You want me to what?" Kai shook his head, waving his hand to indicate Ray to go on. "Yeah you told us some time ago that you played, so go ahead." Ray shook his head quickly. "I haven't played in forever, I wouldn't even know where to start." Kai sighed, sometimes Ray could really push his nerves. "Normally the start is a good place." Tala said smiling encouragingly, how he always managed to look encouraging Kai could only guess.

Ray bit his lip, deciding what to do. "I suppose I could play something, but I'm not even sure what to play." Tala jumped in instantly. "You're notebook, you have lots of songs wrote out in that." Ray looked wide eyed at Tala. "Yeah but none of them are any good, and when did you look through my notebook." Tala crossed his arms defiantly. "A while back, and yes they are so good." Ray sighed obviously finding defeat in the current situation.

"Alright whatever you two say." Ray took a deep breath, setting down in one of the chairs, Tala and Kai sitting down on the couch across from him. "I can only think of one song right now." Kai just nodded his head. "Then do that one."

* * *

I took one final breath. "Alright," and with that I started to play.

The opening rep was a relatively simple part, quickly becoming more complex before trailing off as I started singing.

"_White walls surround us_

_No light will touch your face again_

_Rain taps the window_

_As we sleep among the dead"_

I closed my eyes quickly, the song was hard to sing sometimes but I was being serious when I said it was the only one I could think of.

"_Days go on forever_

_But I have not left your side_

_We can chase the dark together_

_If you go then so will I"_

It seemed so different from when I had wrote it. How long after my mother had gotten 'sick' had I thought of this. Just how many nights had I spent, thinking the very lyrics I now sang as truth. How close had I came to it.

"_There is nothing left of you_

_I can see it in your eyes_

_Sing the anthem of the angels_

_And say the last goodbye"_

She had always been an angel, she had deserved so much more then what life had given her. Her last goodbye was nothing but a bittersweet memory at this point, she had smiled, truly smiled for the first time in years that day.

"_Cold light above us_

_Hope fills the heart and fades away_

_Skin white as winter_

_As the sky returns to gray"_

The hospital held no love, nothing of comfort. They said they were helping you, they never did though. It was always the same, day in and day out, they said you would get better but you never did. Everything drained from our would, hope and light became such a distant feeling.

"_Days go on forever_

_But I have not left your side_

_We can chase the dark together_

_If you go then so will I"_

I kept my promises to you, I kept it for as long as I could. All the way till the bitter end and then some. I suffered through the pain, all to be with you just a little longer.

"_There is nothing left of you_

_I can see it in your eyes_

_Sing the anthem of the angels_

_And say the last goodbye_

_I keep holding onto you_

_But I can't bring you back to life_

_Sing the anthem of the angels_

_Then say the last goodbye"_

and that is the bitter truth, nothing I could ever do would bring you back to life. I tried, I tried everything I could think off, I was there for you through every fit, every attack, but you were already to far gone by time I started trying to help.

"_You're dead alive, you're dead alive_

_You're dead alive, you're dead alive"_

I know how that feels now, with all my heart I do. I don't want to even imagine where I would be if Kai and Tala hadn't found me.

"_There is nothing left of you_

_I can see it in your eyes_

_Sing the anthem of the angels_

_And say the last goodbye"_

There is nothing left for me to hold onto, aside from the darkness I last saw in your eyes and the final glimmer of hope that shown in them the last second you were here.

"_I keep holding onto you_

_But I can't bring you back to life_

_Sing the anthem of the angels_

_And say the last goodbye_

_Sing the anthem of the angels_

_And say the last goodbye_

_Sing the anthem of the angels"_

I have finally found that peace you did, I have found the anthem of the angels. This is my last goodbye.

[A]*[N]

So I was looking through my computer and low and behold I have had this chapter wrote for I don't know how long. Anyways because I liked how this chapter is ended I am adding on one extra chapter to finish up the rest of this chapter.

Anyways on to answering my one reviewer

**Mimi 007: **Had you thought I had died? But being serious you have no idea what your support has meant to me and I am glad that you have enjoyed it so much. This story means a lot to me and I am worried about this chapter being so abrupt of a change in flow but I couldn't think of a good way to change it over. Oh and what you said made perfect since and I know what you mean by to many emotions overloading a story. I am hoping that I kept most of the spelling errors out of this chapter but feel free to let me know if you see any. Finally you haven't touched on anything that I wasn't prepared to cope with because I am writing about it on a public network, besides sometimes it feel better to get what you feel out there.

Long story short what you have said really does mean a lot to me and help me keep going.

Hopefully it wont take me as long to update next time but I promise nothing.

~Gateway~


	5. Life Hurts Like Now Pt II

**Summery: **We were once invincible, untouchable, inseparable. The three of us living above the world, without listening to a word they said. Then that one word brought our whole world crashing down on us, goodbye. No matter what though, I wish you well, my friend.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own beyblade nor do I own 'Wish you well' by thousand foot Krutch

**~Life Hurts just like Now Pt. II~**

Time had became all three of there's worst enemy. The weeks before the trial seemed to stretch themselves in crawling years. Each day that passed Kai became more and more assured . . . he was going to break. It had been a year of this hanging over his head, a year of not knowing when it would end, a year of wondering. Ray looked up at his friend as Kai tapped his pen on the counter.

"You alright?" Kai brought his eyes from the paper that sat on the counter to look at his youngest friend. "Yeah, I'm fine." Ray reached out and took the pen from his friend. "You're not fine, what's wrong?" Kai looked into the others amber eyes, not even a hint of doubt showing in his eyes. It amazed Kai that the young teen could read them so well.

"I'm going to lose Ray. I know I am, just look at these reports, each new one is more in his favor then mine." Kai said pushing the paper over the counter to Ray. Ray looked over the paper for a few seconds before shaking his head. "But that doesn't make sense-" "Doesn't it? I am going to lose this case and then what? I'm back at square one, no scratch that I am at square zero. He wont let it go, he'll make my life hell. He'll-"

Kai didn't finish the thought, but the message was clear. _He'll take you guys away from me. _Ray looked down at the paper again, biting the inside of his lip. He wished Tala was there, he always seemed to know how to deal with Kai better then the young teen. "He can't win." Ray whispered, more to assure himself then Kai.

It was then that Kai felt guilty, he didn't need to trouble his healing friend with his issues. Friend, the word seemed so insignificant when compared to what the three of them had. They had passed over friends when they had all willingly dropped everything they had in their old lives and started new ones together. If brothers were suppose to be anything, it was this. Brothers, family, something about saying that, about looking at where they had all started and looking at the new them made Kai forget every fear he once held. All of them but this one. "_Stupid trial."_

Kai rubbed his forehead to work out an oncoming headache. There were so many things that mattered more then that stupid trial, yet all he could do was think about it. He felt ghost pains shoot up his spine. Even now, a year later the ghost pains still came frequently. Ray noticed his friends stiffened posture and turned around from the counter, searching the cabinets in the kitchen before producing a bottle of pills.

Tala had once joked that between the three of them they could run their own pharmacy. Kai with his anxiety pills and pain medication, Ray with his antidepressants, and Topiramate[1] and of Tala with his stress medication, between the three of them there was hardly room in the medication closet.

Ray placed the pain medication on the counter with a cup of water. "Take it," Ray ordered. Kai took the pills gratefully, taking a large swig of water. "You are stressing out about the trial, that's what's causing the ghost pains you know." Kai smiled slightly at the others disproving tone before deciding to change the topic to something a little happier.

"So are you getting ready for the show in two days." Ray froze. Tala's ability to persuade never ceased to amaze Kai. In two days Kai and Ray were going to be playing a local scouting bar known as the _Second Fret_ and Kai was just praying that Ray wouldn't bail out last second. Kai and Tala both knew that there was a constant gnawing doubt that lived in the back of their youngest brothers mind, they both could see it in the simplest of things. It was as if Ray had convinced himself of failure before he had even taken the first step. That was why this show was the first step on a long trek that Kai and Tala had both been pushing Ray to make.

* * *

Tala pushed open the overly large double glass doors that stood before him. People bustled around, speaking as they passed him by without even sparing him a glance, but then again why should they? He was some nobody 17 year old who had the audacity to break into their world. He didn't care about them, however, he never wanted to be dragged back into their world. He shook his head, ridding his mind of past emotions and walking over to one of the large reception desk.

"Can I help you?" Tala cringed as the woman spoke in an overly perky voice. "Yeah, I'm here to pick up the trial information for the Hiwatari case." The woman's perky persona melted instantly, her face creasing in distress. "I'm sorry that case if private, do you-" He pushed a packet of documents at the woman. He and Kai had spent all of last night and part of the day before filling out the mass amounts of paperwork that Tala was going to need.

Tala hated coming to this place. He rubbed his temples as a burning sensation pounded away at the back of his head. The whole place was cold and impersonal. Just like when he was young. He was passed off from person to person, no one getting attached, no one caring enough to ask him how he was, what he felt. They brushed him off like something they found living under their house.

The woman glanced over the papers that were in the file, frowning a few times before nodding her head in consent. She closed the file and smiled. "If you could please take a seat over there. I'll tell someone that you are here." she said as she stood from her desk, motioning with her her head to a group of chairs beside them.

He walked over to the chairs. He took a seat in one of the chairs father back. They wouldn't be in any big hurry to assist him. They would help their clients fist, then the people who mattered, and then of course, they would get to him, after everyone else was gone. All because he was still a nobody in a world of someones.

He propped his head up on his hand, preparing for what he knew was going to be a painfully long wait, in an area he wished only to avoid. He sighed, he wouldn't have even of volunteered to go if it wasn't for the fact that he knew Kai was already stressed beyond the point of it being healthy. Tala closed his eyes, he just need to block it all out, just for a little.

"_Tally, Tally sweets get up." A little redhead brushed sleep away from his eyes. "Sissy?" The girl smiled at him, handing him some clothes. "Come on Tally, we need to get moving. Go ahead and get dressed." Tala looked down at the cloths now in hand. "Where are we going?" The girl grabbed a backpack from his closet, stuffing cloths and a few toys that Tala loved into the bag. "Somewhere new." She said looking back at him. "Come on Tally, you need to hurry up."_

"_What about Mommy and Daddy, are they going to meet us there?" The girl turned back to packing the backpack. "Not this time Tally. Mommy and Daddy can't come." Tala got out of bed, striping down and changing into the jeans and tee-shirt his sister had given him. "Then where are Mommy and Daddy going?" He asked, thinking about the bag he had seen his parents packing the day before. "Somewhere that we can't go. Now come on, I promises this new place you and I are going to is going to be one thousand times better then this old place."_

_Tala looked back at his bed, grabbing a stuffed wolf off the bed. "Wolborg gets to come to, right?" His sister smiled, picking him up. "Of course, I wouldn't ever dream of leaving Wolborg behind." He smiled holding out his arms. His sister scooped him up, and then they were both off._

**~°oOo°oOo°oOo°~**

_Tala watched as his sister closed the suitcase. "Ready to go Tally?" she asked, holding out her hand to her brother. "Do we haaaavvvee to go already sissy?" she smiled taking his hand in her own and pulling him off the bed. "Yes we haaaavvvee to go Tally. I can't afford another night here.: Tala sighed tightening his grip on Wolborg as he followed his sister out of the room, they passed by the counter without even slowing. He knew his sister hadn't payed for the room, but it wasn't the first time they had skipped out on a hotel bill._

"_Where are we going sissy?" he asked, watching as his sister threw their bags in the trunk and got in the car next to him. "Blaze wants to meet up at a restaurant a few towns over." Tala narrowed his eyes at the name, quickly turning to face the window so his sister wouldn't see. _

_He didn't like Blaze, didn't trust him. He didn't trust anyone that effected his sister the way that man did. She had changed so much since they had meet him, and not for the better. "Why?" He asked, turning back to see his sister. He saw her grip tighten around the steering wheel and knew she was about to lie. "Don't worry about it, kay Tally?" Tala huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and pressing Wolborg closer as he turned to look back out the window. "Whatever."he mumbled as the passing scenery slowly lulled him to sleep._

**~°oOo°oOo°oOo°~**

_Tala picked at his food, glaring at he man across from him. "I'll be back in a second, alright Tally?" Tala looked at his sister as she kissed his forehead and headed for the bathroom, leaving him with Blaze. "So what's up with you kiddo?" Tala took a large bit of food, chewing it as slowly as he could. Blaze huffed, leaning back against the wall. "You know I want to get to know you." Blaze waited a while, hoping that Tala would answer. "I'm not going anywhere, you do get that right? Even if you ignore me, I care about your sist-" Tala looked up sharply, his blue eyes to cold to be a child's. "Hey guys, I'm back. What did I miss?" She asked, sitting next to Blaze. Tala looked down as Blaze kissed his sister. "Nothing," the two boys said in unison._

_**~°oOo°oOo°oOo°~**_

_She was pacing back and forth, chewing on her thumb. Her one and only true nervous habit."Sissy?" Tala said, hugging Wolborg to his chest while keeping his eyes trained on her. She was going into withdraw, Tala could tell, which only made him worry more. "Where is he?" She mumbled, glancing at the door. "He should have been here ages ago." She whined sitting on the bed by her brother. _

_Tala pulled his legs onto the bed. She laid back and placed her arm over her eyes. "Who?" He asked, even though he knew the answer. "Blaze, he said he would be here at 12." Tala glanced at the clock, sighing as he saw the flashing 12:00. "Sissy." He sighed, nudging her side with the stuffed wolf. "Can we get food please, I'm really hungry." He whined, which caused his sister to bury her head father into her hands. "Then look in the fridge Tally, I don't feel up to fixing things." She mumbled against her hands._

_Tala sighed a final time before pushing off the bed, and placing the wolf next to her. "Okay sissy." He said as he walked over to the motels small mini fridge, that he knew would be empty. Right before he could open the fridge, however, the motels metal door swung open. Tala looked over as his sister jumped from the bed. Blaze held out a little plastic bag as she threw her arms around him. She took it from him greedily, giving him a kiss in return, before looking at him like a hurt puppy dog._

"_How much?" She asked, as Blaze walked inside to sit on the bed. "It's a gift," He said as he brushed the stuffed wolf off the bed. "all you have to do is one little favor." Tala made a noise in the back of his throat, which caused the intruder to look at him. Tala walked over and picked up Wolborg before Blaze threw him a paper bag. "It's McD's enjoy it and let your sister and me talk." Tala caught the food before going to the hall to eat. He didn't even want to know what they were talking about._

_**~°oOo°oOo°oOo°~**_

_She shifted her bag over as she put Blaze's in the trunk of the car with her own and her brother's. She shifted her gaze to her brother sitting in the back seat. Blaze nudged her foot with his. "I promise you, it's for the better."_

_**~°oOo°oOo°oOo°~**_

"Mr. Ivanov?" Tala blinked his eyes open, sitting up in the chair. A young ewomen stood in front of him. Her suit was neatly pressed, her hair pulled back tight, but it was obvious she was new. Tala scoffed inwardly. _"Just another suit."_ He thought as he stood up to follow her. The sooner this was all over, the better.

* * *

Kai and Ray were looking over a mess of song lyrics. Most of them were ones that Kai had written, but there were a few of Ray's thrown in haphazardly. "So what are you thinking about?" Kai asked, reading off some of his old song lyrics. "_What was I thinking when I wrote this?" _

Kai made a face before throwing it back in the pile and leaning back in the chair. Ray sat across the counter from him on a bar stool, his legs underneath him Indian style. He swiveled the stool back and forth, chewing on his bottom lip. "I don't know yet. What about you?" Kai picked up another paper, sighing and he wadded it up and tossed it in the trash behind him. "What do you think?'

Ray sighed. "I am guessing nothing." Kai nodded his head as Ray as he picked up another paper. "What about this one: _You've made us Conscious_." Kai shook his head, twirling a pen between his fingers. "No, what do you think of _Make it Rain_?"[1] Ray took the lyrics from Kai, reading over them. "For me or you?" Kai picked up another paper, this was getting tedious fast. "Doesn't matter." Ray stood from the stool, stretchering out like a cat. None of these songs felt right to him, and he didn't know what he was hoping to achieve by looking at them over and over again.

:"Where are you heading?" Kai asked not looking up. Ray moved away from my counter. "Getting something to drink, do you want something?" Kai started to speak but whatever he was going to say was cut off as the phone started ringing. Both teens looked to the phone. "Who is calling the house phone?" Kai asked in wonder, Ray shrugged his shoulders and walked over to answer the phone. He stopped, looking at Kai. "What should I say?" Kai raised an eyebrow, "Try Hello." Ray rolled his eyes picking up the phone. "Hello?" he said hesitantly.

"_Ah, yes it this Tala Ivanov?"_ Ray looked back at Kai before answering. "Um, no this is Ray Kon, I am a friend of his. I something wrong?" The person on the other end of the phone had obviously wanted Tala and Tala alone because it took them a moment to answer. "_I sincerely hope not, if you would please have your friend call me back when he gets back in." _Ray bit his lip before nodding his head in consent. "Sure, what's the number?" Ray asked as he snapped his fingers for Kai to throw him the pen, which Kai did.

Ray flipped the lyrics paper he had in his hands over and poised the pen over it. "_340-875-1221." _Ray finished the number before realizing he had no name to go with it. "I'm sorry but I didn't catch your name." If he didn't know any better, Ray could have sworn he felt the other person smirk. "_Amelia, my name is Amelia._" Ray nodded again. "Alright, I'll makes sure to tell him you called."

The other person didn't even say goodbye as they hung up the phone. "Who was that?" Kai asked as Ray walked back over to the counter. He returned the pen to the older teen. "I'm not sure, they wanted to talk to Tala though. Name was Amelia, you recognize it?" Kai shook his head, tapping his pen on the counter a few times. "No, but that isn't surprising. Tala never talks about his past, not that it is that big of a deal. Just ask him about it later." Ray nodded his head, before cringing again at the papers before him.

Kai rolled his eyes, before throwing another paper away. "Come on, this isn't going to magically come to you." Ray huffed as he sat back down on the bar stool, before realization hit him. "Aw man I didn't get anything to drink."

* * *

Tala felt his irritation growing. He wanted nothing more then to slam his head into the wall repeatedly. If they hadn't finished the paper work why on earth had they called him back. "Alright Mr. Ivanov, everything is in order." the woman said, placing a folder on the desk. Tala sat up in the seat. "Now, this first paper has all the information on the statements that will be ordered, the next paper has the evidence submission forms. Then the case information is listed out, you, well Mr. Kai Hiwatari is expected to read that thoroughly-"

Tala listened dully as the woman drone on about this and that, explaining it to him as if he were a four year old. Eventually this caused him to tune her out until she finally got to the date. "- am assuming you both are already aware of the new court date." She said smiling and putting the papers back in the folder. Tala, however, wasn't done with her last statement. "Wait, what new court date?" The girl looked at him confused before pulling out the paper.

"I assumed you knew. They should have told you before they finalized the date." Tala looked over the paper before his hands clinched the paper tight enough to tear it. "Who's idea was this?" He asked glaring at the girl, before flinching back at her look. He didn't need to snap at her, it wasn't her fault after all. "I'm not sure, I'm sorry."

Tala ran his hands threw his hair, before he gave a shaky smile to the woman. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. This just came as a surprise. If I could take this with me to show my friend." The woman smiled back, holding out a paper and pen. "Of course just sign this." Tala signed his names before taking the files and thanking her.

He left as quickly as he could, not stopping until he was in a cab and on his way home. His mind racing, it just wasn't fair sometimes. The cab came to a stop in front of the apartments that the three lived at. Tala threw his money at the drive, muttering a quick keep the change, before jumping out and running up the stairs.

"Guys let me in!" Tala called, knocking on the door and waiting for his friends. It was Ray that opened the door. "Hey Tal-" "Where is Kai?" Ray moved out of the way letting Tala in. Tala walked over to the counter, dropping the folder before him. Kai raised an eyebrow at the redhead, but Tala cut him off. "Last page, read it." Kai grabbed the last paper in the folder. "What am I looking at?"

Tala just waited, Ray coming over to stand by his friends. "You're kidding me?" Kai put the paper down. "When did they change the date?" Tala shook his head, sinking into the couch with a sigh. "No idea, but you know what the means." Kai nodded, placing his head in his hands. "Guess it's going to be over sooner then we thought." Ray looked from one of his friends to the other.

"What's going on?" He asked. Kai and Tala both smiled synthetically. "Sorry, the court date has been moved up to the 12th instead of the 23." Ray bit his lip, he didn't want to say it, but he doubted that his friends had realized it yet.

"The 12th is two days from now." Both Kai and Tala nodded, then it hit Kai. "The show. Ray-" Tala looked at the other two before recalling what they were talking about. "That is the 12th isn't it? Man, Ray I'm sorry." Ray shook his head, smiling at the other two. "No big deal. The show doesn't matter." Kai and Tala both made a noise of outrage.

"No way! You are doing this show." Tala said standing up. "But, Kai! I need to be there." Kai shook his head. "It's fine, Tala will be there, besides if you finish up before the trial is over you can come and be support, alright?" Ray bit the inside of his lip. He didn't want to sound mean but the truth was, he really wanted them there for _him_.

If they were both at the trial, it meant that neither of them would be there for him. "Come on Ray you'll be fine." Ray took a deep breath, he knew they wouldn't let him out of it. Tala gave the youngest member of their family a small smile. Then Ray realized something. "Oh yeah, Tala someone called for you earlier."

Tala was surprised by Kai and Ray's easy acceptations of the situation. "Really, who would have called for me?" He asked, Ray grabbed the song lyrics that had the number written on the back of it. "Here ya go." He said passing the paper to Tala. "Things left unsaid? Hm, sounds good, is that what you are going to sing?" Ray looked at the paper before rolling his eyes. "Loo-" "That's it." Kai said interrupting Ray.

Ray looked at him in confusion, but Kai was a step ahead of him. "Trust me, sing that one. For me if nothing else." Ray nodded before turning back to Tala. "Alright, guess I am singing that. But I gave it to you cause the number is for you to call the person back is written on the back."

"Alright, can you hand me the phone." Ray threw the house phone to Tala, as the redhead punched in the number. "By the way did you get a- ah hello?" Tala listened as the person on the other end of the phone spoke. "Did you say Amelia? You're sure?"

* * *

**{A}{N}**

[1] Both, _Make it rain _and _You've made us Conscious _are songs from the band "The Audition"

Alright, well originally this chapter was going to end it, but it was getting to long to manage, since there are still three major scenes that I wanted to put in it. So unless something unimaginable happens there is only one more chapter to go, and possible a epilogue that picks up where chapter one left off, but that is just a possibility.

Wow what was meant to be one chapter has turned into three, shows how well I manage stories, anyways onto reviews!

**Your Entry is not valid: **I thank you for reviewing, really I do but I have a "newsflash" for you, I didn't brainwash you into reading the whole fic. If you didn't like it from the start why didn't you stop? I am sorry you didn't like it but really there was no call for what you said. I don't mind if you trash me as a writer, that is your opinion, but if you could please leave my friend out of it, his memory is something that I treasure and I would rather not have it slandered just because you didn't enjoy this story. Thanks again.

**My Own Demise: **I am glad you liked how he came up with the lyrics. I think that everyone needs some form of inspiration every once and a while, and soon I will show you how he came up with "Their verse" I loved writing the grocery store, and I don't even know why. I kept picturing you and Airen shopping, it was funny. I am glad thew switch in PoV wasn't to insanely confusing. No kidding it is well thought out, for the first time ever I actually know exactly where I want this to go! Aren't you proud. OO ur 69, love you bro.

**Sweet Minaa:** Oh my gosh, that means so much to me, you have no idea! You literally made my day when I first read that. I am thankful that the characters seem like they are well constructed, and I hope I didn't disappoint with this chapter. I really hope you think that Tala's backstory was still believable, I fought myself on that for a while. Thanks so much for your kind words and review!

**Mimi 007:** (I left you for last cause I love you) I really hope that your depression is better, I really do. I can't say as I know how if feels but I can say that I sympathize with the plight. And you are so amazing and sweet to me. I was worried it might seem a little rushed, actually I am worried that all three of these last chapters are going to be rushed, because their lives are catching up to them. I am so glad you liked how he came up with the lyrics, that was most likely the most difficult thing I have ever had to write, and that is saying something (Although that stupid beybattle in Meltdown comes close) I have tried really hard to find songs that I think fit the story, (When Ray and Kai are going through songs I was actually really going through them myself) Ray singing that song was hard, and I think his next song might be even harder for me to write. Besides you could never speech to much to me, I love hearing from you, and this seems tired and cliché given the story I am writing but if you ever need to talk just PM me, I am always happy to hear you vent and MOD is as well, you have become like our adopted sister!

Thanks so much for the love and support everyone, until next time!

~Gateway~


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